Vava'u marlin on a Thumper!

Marlin on a Bozo’s Thumper ….. What’s next?

If there is one thing charter skipper’s love more than catching fish it has to be … trying out new tackle, especially lures or jigs that look a bit different and promise an interesting swimming action.

In Vava’u, Tonga we are lucky to have a diverse and rich fishery and we encounter five species of billfish together with most pelagic species from Mahimahi, Tuna to Giant Trevally. I had the opportunity of testing some Bozo’s innovations like their new soft baits, the ‘Thumper Grub’ that can be deep jigged or trolled. These were supplied by the boys from Sport Fishing New Zealand LTD along with some of their outstanding Katch1 jigs.

We tested the Thumper in a renowned sailfish spot and on our first run we raised a couple of Sails and hooked up on our second run but alas we pulled the hook.
In between the run we got molested with some toothy critter most likely a Wahoo or Oceanic Barracuda and sustained a bit of tail damage …..

Now if the Thumper could raise Sailfish what about a Blue?  We set the scene by specifically targeting Blue Marlin. We only ran one Thumper in the spread at any one time and changed the position to find the best combination for the boat. We had two variations – one lumo blue and the other a luminescent yellow head/body. With a trolling speed of 7kts up to 9kts, the Thumper swam beautifully just under the surface. 

On our first day out we got slammed by big Yellow Fin Tuna but kept pulling the hook. One got one right to the boat and we pulled the hook trying to hang on to a 65kg fish that made a last minute dash under the stern.
Later in the day we raised two Blues and one had a go at the Thumper …. the initial hook up was spectacular with the Blue clear jumping then sounding and ripping out 200 meters of line in seconds. With the fight on, we took it easy and then that terrible feeling when the line suddenly jerks a couple of times and the fish is gone …a bill wrap.

After replacing the leader, out went the Thumper again and minutes later we hooked up on a solid Blue. We had the Thumper in the long flat position, two waves back so we could watch closely but all we saw was a big hole in the water, typical of a feisty Blue strike. Greg Towns from Auckland was the lucky angler and after 25 minutes, bought the est.120kg Blue alongside for a clean tag shot.
We have been close a couple of times to nailing some very respectable Yellow Fin and the hot spot is way back on the centre rigger.

I have played around with different hook rigs to find the best that suits our fishery and as yet I haven’t trolled any deep-water reef drop-offs, but based on our results so far, I suspect Dog Tooth and GT’s will simply hammer the Thumper, given the chance.

Capt. Steve Campbell
Ika Lahi International Game Fishing Lodge
Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga